Despite the title “Confessions of a Geylang Sex Worker” (mistranslation or deliberate obfuscation?) this article is actually about a study of sex workers in Singapore, heralded as unusual for its discovery of the fact that sex workers are charging different rates to different ethnic groups based on their perceived willingness and ability to pay.

Thirty-two employees were cut from Brisbane sexual health clinic Biala House last year, forcing sex workers to take sexual health checks to general practitioners (who may or may not be comfortable with sex work and familiar with the sexual health needs of sex workers). Australia’s Prostitution Licensing Authority says that lack of comfort with GPs will result in many sex workers leaving the legal system (which requires that full service sex workers receive health checks before getting their certificates) for off-the-books sex work that doesn’t require invasive and embarrassing health checks with judgmental medical staff.

But if you truly want to know about sex workers’ lives, here’s a hint. Listen to them, we have a lot to say. We are not silent and we fight daily for better labour rights for our community. We appreciate good allies who listen and don’t attempt to speak on sex workers’ behalf. Good allies respect our autonomy and don’t make assumptions about us, but find out what the facts are – from sex workers.

California tried to make condoms inadmisable as evidence and failed; however, the final bill does require “a court to state explicitly that the presence of condoms is relevant to the individual case before prosecutors can use them as evidence of prostitution,” in the hope that these extra steps will deter law enforcement from confiscating and arresting on the basis of condom possession.

The Daily Beast hits its daily quota of noxious whorephobia with this post on Belle Knox and “the mainstreaming of adult stars.” The dismissive tone is odd, coming from a former sex worker, but the post overflows with mystifying statements like, “This Ivy League coquette didn’t just go from stripping to porn” and “A hundred girls before her have entered porn to pay for college but very few graduate.” Because most porn performers began as strippers, and the attrition rate for college students who do porn is a known factor! No.

This post by Jillian Keenan is somewhat redemptive, beginning with the obvious “Sex Workers Don’t Deserve to Be Raped” and seguing into all the ways that criminalization and stigmatization make sex workers vulnerable.

We must start thinking of sex work as a job like any other job. We must start thinking of sex workers as people. And we must start caring about the things that happen to them, the same way we care about the things that happen to other women, or else their deaths will be met with the same response that met Tjhisha Ball’s and Angelia Mangum’s brutal, untimely passings: a terrible, twisted silence.

Jada Pinkett is also really rich and has been for a long, long time. That might be another reason why this ignorant useless piece of shit might not understand why stripping leads to financial independence and is something that a lot of people desire. I saw the video. I was amazed at how stupid she is.

Hi this is Kate McGrew, thanks for the support! The show is called “Connected” and is on RTE2 in Ireland Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30pm until November 20th. It follows myself and 5 other women as we filmed our own lives for a year. You can watch it, and the 6 shows that have already aired here: http://www.rteplayer.ie (in the US, I believe with Firefox and Media Hint it will work). The media and journalists here have really run the gamut in their reporting. Actually, save for the tabloids, generally more positive than I’d expected, but I’ve had to refuse some actual hugs of pity (“for that matter I’m in the business of lucrative pleasurable consensual hugs, so no thank you”) 😉 We ALL shuddered. Thanks for your work Tits and Sass!!